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The Headlines
CHANGING OF THE GUARD. The powerhouse J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles has tapped Katherine E. Fleming, the provost of New York University, to be its next president and CEO. Fleming follows James Cuno, who is retiring after more than a decade at the helm of the arts institution, which sports a $9.2 billion endowment. A scholar of Mediterranean history and culture, Fleming has been NYU’s chief academic officer since 2016. She starts in August at the trust, which encompasses the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Museum. “Having a life and a career that allows you to spend a huge amount of time thinking about humanities and cultural artifacts is an incredible privilege,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “But I feel this instantiation of it, at the Getty, even more so.”
Related Articles
UNDER THE PAVING STONES, THE BEACH! On Saturday, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will reopen in La Jolla after a $105 million expansion by architect Annabelle Selldorf. In the Art Newspaper, Jori Finkel reports that the project has quadrupled the institution’s space for exhibitions, which previously stood at 10,000 square feet. In the San Diego Union-Tribute, Seth Combs writes that “what may be the most impressive (and if we’re being honest here, it’s all very impressive) is just how many local and regional artists there are on the walls.” The new structure also has what appears to be a superb perspective on the Pacific. In Town & Country, the museum’s director, Kathryn Kanjo, said of her audience , “God bless them for coming into the museum as opposed to going to the beach. So why can’t we also give them a view?”
The Digest
Next month, an early Michelangelo drawing will be offered by Christie’s in Paris with an estimate of €30 million (about $32.7 million). Long attributed to the school of Michelangelo, it was identified as a work by the Renaissance artist by a specialist from the house in 2019. [Reuters/Bangkok Post]
Notebooks used by Charles Darwin that went missing more than 20 years ago from the University of Cambridge in England have been mysteriously returned to its library. The prized volumes, which include a sketch by Darwin of his “tree of life,” were left in a gift bag with a note reading, “Librarian, Happy Easter X.” [BBC News and CNN]
Applications open next week for a program in Ireland that will pay about 2,000 artists in various fields €325 (some $350) a week. Speaking of the period when the pandemic shuttered arts venues, Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, said that “at this time of greatest challenge their output was never more highly prized.” [BBC News]
Multi-hyphenate artist Theaster Gates and Prada named the 14 awardees of their inaugural Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, which aims to support Black artists and designers. They include architect Germane Barnes, artist Kenturah Davis, and chef Damarr Brown. [Dezeen]
One of Jeff Koons’s new BMW art cars sold at Christie’s for $475,000, with all proceeds destined for the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, an organization long supported by the artist. The hammered car is one of only 99 that have been made (all sold now), and it is the only one signed by the artist. [Designboom]
Artist and fashion designer Sterling Ruby created the cover art for another Pusha T single. This one is titled “Neck & Wrist,” and it features guest appearances by Takashi Murakami collaborator Pharrell Williams and collector Jay-Z. [Genius]
The Kicker
RIDDLE ME THIS. The estimable textile artist Sheila Hicks is about to open a new show at the Hepworth Wakefield in England, and is the subject of a rollicking profile in the Guardian by Charlotte Higgins. In the story, Hicks shoots a question to her interlocutor: “What color do you think of when you think of Anni Albers ?” The correct answer—spoiler alert!—is that there is no correct answer. “The color seems completely arbitrary,” Hicks said, arguing that Albers’s work was all about structure. Hicks, though, is different. “Color is in my blood!” she said. Truer words may never been spoken. [The Guardian]